Allen (1938:225-229) experimented with the ability of four different males of _M. f. noveboracensis_ from Michigan to kill adult cottontails. The method used was to place the weasel in a cage of quarter-inch hardware cloth approximately three feet long, two feet wide, and two feet high. The bottom of the box was covered with several inches of straw. One cottontail was offered to each weasel. In two instances the weasel attacked and bit the cottontail, was struck by the hind feet of the cottontail, retired from the attack and died a few hours later as a result of the blows of the cottontail's hind feet. In the other two instances the weasel rendered the cottontail helpless by severing the neck muscles from the skull. Subsequently an incision made by the weasel, in each of the two instances gave access to blood on which the weasel fed until it was full, in one instance by licking "blood as a cat laps milk." One rabbit was subdued in 10 minutes and the other in 15 minutes. Allen (_op. cit._) points out that cottontails form a considerable portion of the weasel's food and thinks that they are killed in burrows more easily than they were in the cage.
In writing of the three species of weasels, including _Mustela frenata_, found at Treesbank and vicinity, Manitoba, Norman Criddle and Stuart Criddle (1925:143, 144), in my opinion, correctly explain the killing of more prey than weasels need. "The fact that weasels frequently kill many more animals than they require for immediate use has been universally interpreted as a lust for killing--a supposition which we believe to be quite erroneous. It is true that weasels often kill more than they need, but the surplus is not necessarily wasted because the animals always store it for future use, in much the same way as do badgers, minks or skunks, and with the same object in view as squirrels have in gathering nuts. We have observed many such stores, but as far as our observations go, the habit of killing in excess occurs much more prominently in the late summer and autumn months than in the spring. Indeed, we have no records of excessive spring slaughter and this indicates that the supposedly blood-thirsty habit of weasels is no more a lust for killing than is the woodsman's foresight in providing his larder with meat for the winter months. It should be noted in this connection that members of the weasel family, when undisturbed, do not leave their victims scattered about, but carefully store them away, and in many instances the bodies are buried with earth or taken under ground to preserve them. We suspect that this instinct for preserving food for future use accounts for most of the excessive killing by carnivorous animals instead of this latter indicating an aimless desire for slaughter which would unnecessarily deplete the food supply of the future. This instinct, however, does not seem to be as definite as that of some rodents, and there is no doubt that much of the stored meat decays before it can be utilized."